ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Sen. Jerry Moran’s office has been keeping relatively busy lately, and as a pair of announcements tells it, the work has been rather varied.

Monday, Moran’s office announced Kansas health care providers will receive $225,896,117 in federal resources through the second year of the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), an increase of $4 million from last year. For the second year in a row, Kansas will receive the sixth-highest amount in federal resources from the program, with the state receiving $222 million in the program’s first year, according to a release from Moran’s office.

The RHTP is a $50 billion nationwide program established by House Resolution 1 in 2025. Over five years, states will receive annual funding based on rural health needs and transformative initiatives. Kansas’ plan includes 24 programs across five key initiatives:

• Expand Primary and Secondary Prevention Programs

• Secure Local Access to Primary Care

• Build a Sustainable Rural Health Workforce

• Enable Value-Based Care

• Harness Data and Technology

“This is an important investment in rural health care across Kansas, and these resources will provide long-term upgrades for technology, staffing and equipment to better meet the needs of Kansans in small towns across our state,” Moran noted in the release from his office. “I worked with my colleagues to establish this federal program, and Kansas will again receive the sixth-highest award in the nation. These resources are targeted to address the unique needs of rural communities in our state, and I look forward to working with Kansas health care providers and state leaders to strengthen access to quality, affordable care for rural patients in Kansas.”

Moran worked to establish the Rural Health Transformation Program last year to help identify the root challenges facing rural health providers and invest in solutions to improve outcomes for struggling providers. The program, administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is implemented at the state level by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE).

This week also saw Moran speak on the Senate floor urging Congress to reach an agreement on aviation safety legislation that can pass both chambers and be signed into law by President Trump before the end of the year. Moran delivered his remarks ahead of the second anniversary of the deadly midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) involving a regional passenger jet, Flight 5342, which originated in Wichita and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The crash killed 67 people, including seven Kansans.

“67 people lost their lives. Seven of them were from my state of Kansas. Nearly two years later, their families continue to live with an unimaginable loss. And Congress still has not completed the comprehensive aviation safety legislation necessary to address the failures that contributed to the tragedy. It’s unacceptable,” Moran said. “Among those aboard Flight 5342 was Grace Maxwell. Grace should have graduated from Cedarville University with her bachelor’s degree. After graduation, she planned to pursue a master’s degree. Instead, her family is left to imagine that future, the future she would have had. The Maxwell family is not alone. The families of the victims have continued to urge Congress to act – not simply for their loved ones, but to make certain no other family has to experience this kind of tragedy. We owe them more than our condolences. We owe them action. In December almost a year ago, the Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan ROTOR Act to strengthen aviation safety and help prevent future accidents.”

The ROTOR Act was carefully developed with the support and input of the crash victims' families, the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense, Moran continued.

“Rather than pass the Senate's legislation, the House advanced its own proposal. The House bill contains important safety reforms, and I appreciate the work of my colleagues in both chambers. But the two bills take different approaches to some of the important safety requirements,” Moran said. “Productive negotiations have taken place between the House and Senate, and I am encouraged by that progress. But we must finish the job, we’ve been talking about that progress and those negotiations for a long time. We must get the job done; we must get it done right. One of the most important provisions in the ROTOR Act is the requirement for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast In, known as ADS-B In. This technology provides pilots with real-time information about nearby aircraft. This allows pilots to see surrounding air traffic from their cockpits and make better and quicker-informed decisions. It is particularly important in congested airspace, like the airspace surrounding Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Investigators from both the Army and NTSB identified a series of failures that contributed to the January 29th tragedy, including faulty equipment, dangerous flight paths and inadequate tracking technology. The NTSB concluded that technology allowing pilots to see GPS-based information about nearby aircraft could have helped prevent this collision. With the appropriate technology, pilots could have had nearly a minute of warning to recognize the danger and potentially change course. Nearly a minute that could have made the difference between the life and the death of 67 people.”

The legislation incorporates those findings and puts critical safety improvements into law, and is a recommendation rooted in the independent investigation of a tragedy that should never have happened, Moran continued.

“The House and Senate have different approaches to ADS-B In. We need to find common ground and produce a bill that can pass both chambers. But compromise cannot mean abandoning the lessons of Jan. 29,” Moran said. “We must reach an agreement that addresses the recommendations of the NTSB and the Army's investigation. We cannot water down critical safety reforms. Our focus must remain on one mission: making our skies safer and preventing another tragedy. Every provision in the final bill should be measured against that standard. Does it address a demonstrated safety concern? Does it implement the recommendations of the experts who investigated this crash? Does it make our aviation system safer? Common sense questions that need to be answered about the legislation. This work extends, however, beyond the ROTOR Act. As Chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation, I have also worked to address the growing number of close calls involving aircraft on runways and airport surfaces. In June, I held a hearing to examine these incidents and identify ways to prevent them before they become tragedies as well. I worked with colleagues to advance the bipartisan Runway SAFE-T Act to improve training and technology and reduce runway and airport surface incidents. That legislation was approved by the Commerce Committee in September, and I will continue working with my colleagues to advance it. We cannot, should not, wait for another tragedy before addressing known safety concerns. Congress has a responsibility to finish aviation safety legislation. The Senate has acted. The House has acted. There is bipartisan support for improving aviation safety. Now we must resolve our differences and deliver a final bill.”